American football, which is one of the country's favorite pastimes, is also one of the most dangerous. The sport is characterized by high energy tackles and collisions that are conducive to a number of serious injuries, including mild to severe concussions and traumatic brain injury. In 2012, the National Football League (NFL) experienced a total of 189 concussions during its regular season, translating to more than 11 concussions each week.
Similarly, college football players experience an average of 2.5 concussions for every 1,000 game-related exposures, while 25,000 players between the ages of eight and nineteen are taken to emergency rooms for concussions each year. With the rates of these head injuries either increasing or stabilizing over the past 50 years, many health experts have started referring to a football-related “concussion epidemic.” At the same time, the long-term consequences of head trauma experienced by football players have come under increasing scrutiny in recent years.
In the case of American football, while many attempts have been made to improve the design and safety of the players' helmets, the number of severe brain and other injuries continues to rise with participation in the sport, and with the increasing speed and power of the athletes. The hard outer shell of existing helmets frequently does little to absorb initial impact forces, and merely transfers the impact energy of collisions to the inner cushioning of the helmets. Accordingly, new and improved helmet designs are needed, in which the outer shell will more effectively absorb the energy of an impact, while maintaining the structural integrity of the helmet.
Through applied effort, ingenuity, and innovation, Applicant has identified a number of deficiencies and problems with football helmets. Applicant has developed a solution that is embodied by the present invention, which is described in detail below.